Yuan Ming discovered something in Cui Wuran's memories. Over a year ago, when he first met Cui Wuran in Xiansha City, Cui Wuran had invited him to undertake a mission together, but it was actually to lure him out and deliver him to those people from the Guiyuan Sect. It was only that Yuan Ming had refused at that time.

Cui Wuran's cultivation breakthrough was thanks to the benefits he received from the Guiyuan Sect.

And the so-called Transplanting Technique was one of the benefits given by those people, which was also the biggest reason why Cui Wuran devotedly worked for the Guiyuan Sect.

He possessed three spirit roots talent, which was considered medium in the Cultivation World. Generally speaking, without any special fortuitous encounters or strong support from a sect or clan, reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage was already the limit, especially for a Loose Cultivator, where it was even more difficult. Only with the Transplanting Technique would he have a hope of reaching Core Formation.

As for that Manager Liao, although he was a core backbone of the Xiansha City Lord Mansion and took risks in getting involved, it was also due to the temptation of Core Formation through the Transplanting Technique. With his help, Cui Wuran was even more successful in recent years.

"The temptation of Core Formation is indeed great. If it were not for being a Soul Cultivator, lacking the Soul Pill Secret Technique, I might also pin my hopes on this Transplanting Technique," Yuan Ming murmured to himself, withdrawing the Soul Destroying Sword with a flick of his hand.

A sword qi shattered this person's Divine Soul, and Cui Wuran's presence completely dissipated.

Yuan Ming approached the skinny old man, pressing his palm on his head and performing Soul Search again, quickly figuring out the old man's origins as well.

This person was originally a Loose Cultivator, captured by the Guiyuan Sect, who didn't hesitate to betray a number of friends in exchange for his freedom, and in the end, blatantly collaborated with them, engaging in the business of trafficking cultivators.

Because the skinny old man had spent a long time with the Guiyuan Sect, his relationship with that group of cultivators grew even tighter. His memories contained images of their hideout, a mining vein controlled by the Guiyuan Sect, where all captured cultivators would be sent, to be handed over to a Core Formation Stage cultivator there.

This Core Formation Stage cultivator ruled over that particular mining vein and seemed to be conducting many inhumane experiments using the captured cultivators, incorporating parts of demon beasts' bodies into the cultivators. The memory of that deeply impacted the skinny old man.

Yuan Ming recalled the single horn on the forehead of the man with the unicorn earlier, and then he understood.

The experiments by this Core Formation Stage cultivator indeed resembled the Fur Cloak Skill of Biluo Cave, both involving the implantation of demon beast's power into cultivator bodies.

However, according to the skinny old man's memories, directly transplanting parts of demon beast bodies into cultivator bodies carried high risks. More than half of the cases resulted in conflicting energies between man and beast, causing the recipient to explode and die.

Yuan Ming shook his head and continued the Soul Search, his expression suddenly fixed.

In the skinny old man's memory, he recognized a figure he was quite familiar with—it was Wulu.

He was in that mining vein, working hard at mining along with other mine slaves.

"Why is Wulu here? Is this a new task for his family, or was he lured and captured?" Yuan Ming wondered silently.

Wulu was one of the few friends he had made upon his initial steps on the Immortal Path in the Southern Border. Although they had undergone many twists and turns, generally, the two of them could be considered comrades who had experienced life and death together and got along quite well.

With Wulu's shrewdness, he shouldn't have been deceived, right? However, from the old man's memory, it didn't seem like he was in a covert position. Moreover, what purpose would he have in hiding in such a place?

He felt puzzled and was about to continue the Soul Search to locate the exact position of the mining vein.

Suddenly, the skinny old man's body trembled, his breath completely vanished, and his Divine Soul gradually dispersed.

This person was already on the brink of death, and now he could no longer hold on.

Yuan Ming's palm glowed with green light, attempting a rescue, but it was already too late.

"I was careless," he muttered with a frown, turning to the Red Gold Centipede and raising his hand.

A transparent soul crow flew out of the centipede's head, it was the second soul splitting he had painstakingly nurtured over the past year, previously hidden inside Zuo Qinghui.

Controlling the skinny old man and the Red Gold Centipede was the work of this soul splitting.

This soul splitting had grown considerably over the past year, and while its soul power was still far less than that of Yuan Ming's main soul, it was not inferior to an ordinary Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Although the Red Gold Centipede, being a demon beast, had a strong physical body, its Divine Soul was quite weak, unable to resist the control of the soul splitting.

Once the soul splitting left, the Red Gold Centipede's eyes quickly regained clarity, and a fierce aura rapidly revived.

Yuan Ming spurred the Soul Destroying Sword, pointing it in the void toward the Red Gold Centipede.

A streak of black Sword Qi shot out, disappearing into the Red Gold Centipede's head, causing its body to tremble, its Divine Soul completely collapsing.

Yuan Ming took out a large Spiritual Beast Bag and collected the bodies of the Red Gold Centipede, the skinny old man, and Cui Wuran, then summoned a Green Cloud Crane, took to the sky, and flew in one direction.

Although he hadn't found the exact location of the mining vein from the skinny old man, he did find the route those Guiyuan Sect cultivators used to reach this place. The others, on their return journey, would likely pass through here.

By following them, he could still find the mining vein.

Half a day later, the group from the Guiyuan Sect returned aboard a Flying Boat.

Shi Chuan had been captured, his hands and feet firmly bound, thrown inside the flying boat, his face covered in blood, evidently having been severely beaten.

Manager Liao was also inside the flying boat. Having been deserted by Yue Rong, he could no longer return to Xiansha City and could only join the Guiyuan Sect.

The expressions of the Guiyuan Sect cultivators were somewhat heavy. Although they had captured Shi Chuan and Manager Liao had joined them, losing the Red Gold Centipede meant they didn't know what punishment they would face upon their return.

Just at this moment, on the ground ahead, sand and dust were swirling tumultuously, as if someone was fighting.

"There's someone down there fighting a demon beast? It seems to be a Loose Cultivator!" the person controlling the Flying Boat said.

Upon hearing this, the cultivators on the boat extended their Divine Sense downward.

In the midst of the sand and dust, a dark-skinned, short-haired cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Stage was fighting against two Second-Level Sand Worms and had already sustained serious injuries, retreating as he fought.

"Capture him alive, it might make up for some losses!" the unicorn man nodded and ordered.

Two Guiyuan Sect cultivators swooped down, and upon seeing this, the dark-skinned cultivator's face showed a look of panic. He hastily summoned a Flying Artifact to escape, but was quickly caught by the two Guiyuan Sect cultivators and brought back to the Flying Boat.

The Flying Boat did not stop and continued to shoot forward.

From behind a nearby sand dune, Yuan Ming's figure appeared, his eyes flickering slightly, pondering something.

As for that dark-skinned cultivator, he was none other than Zuo Qinghui.

To alter his appearance and aura, Yuan Ming had put in quite an effort.

He had shaved Zuo Qinghui's beard and hair and washed his body with a special lotion to temporarily turn his skin dark. Furthermore, he combined the Blood Fusion Secret Technique from the Blood Transformation Technique with the Hidden Element Technique to temporarily change Zuo Qinghui's mana aura, finally succeeding in deceiving the Guiyuan Sect cultivators.

...

Under the scorching sun, the sound of chains clinking echoed, the hot shackles rubbing against Zuo Qinghui's ankles, leaving light red abrasions.

Without uttering a word, he lifted his hand and hooked a finger around the collar on his neck, feeling around it but finding no gap.

After the Guiyuan Sect cultivators captured him, they immediately put this collar on him, and his mana was suppressed instantly. His cultivation level plummeted, finally stabilizing at the Qi Refining Third Level.

However, the collar only suppressed mana and had no effect on his Divine Soul. As a soul split of Yuan Ming, he could leave this physical body at any time and possess someone else's body.

Only, he was deliberately captured with a purpose this time, so now he just sat there quietly, without making any major moves.

On the deck of the Flying Boat, besides him, there were more than a dozen other prisoners with collars around their necks, among whom the bloodied Shi Chuan was also present.

These cultivator prisoners were either frightened or furious. Due to the suppression by the Magic Artifact, Zuo Qinghui could not determine their exact cultivation levels, only guessing their former strength from their varied expressions.

Apart from these cultivator prisoners, there were also a significant number of mortal prisoners on the Flying Boat, who were also chained, but without collars around their necks.

The nearby guards were those Guiyuan Sect cultivators, and their number had increased compared to what Yuan Ming had seen earlier; apparently, some had stayed on the Flying Boat to guard the prisoners while others went out to capture more people.

After capturing Zuo Qinghui, this group did not immediately control the Flying Boat to return but continued on their way, stopping intermittently and capturing more cultivators and mortals from various places.

Now nearly five days had passed since Zuo Qinghui was captured, and the prisoners on the boat learned from the conversations among the Guiyuan Sect cultivators that the Flying Boat was now on its way back.

Although they did not know how much longer it would take to reach their destination, the prisoners on the Flying Boat knew that once they arrived, the guards would only increase, not decrease.

Thus, despite being suppressed in their mana, these cultivators, accustomed to being high above others, naturally were not willing to lie low. Many of them wanted to seize the current opportunity to break free from their bindings.

However, the biggest obstacle between them and freedom was the collars around their necks.

This Magic Artifact was actually not sophisticated. Even though they couldn't use their own mana due to the suppression, if there was external assistance, a Foundation Establishment stage strike could force the collars open.

But now on the Flying Boat, it seemed that the only cultivators with Foundation Establishment mana were the guards who had captured them.

Freedom seemed out of reach.

But not entirely.

Zuo Qinghui suddenly noticed that on his right side was a bald strongman with a large tattoo on his forehead, whose collar was somewhat old and its spirit light flickered off from time to time, allowing his cultivation to briefly recover.

The bald strongman had naturally noticed this, and he silently sat among the crowd, his eyes tightly closed, calmly focusing as he waited for his chance, while several prisoners quietly moved next to him, shielding him from the guards' view.

It seemed they had found the key to their escape. But just as Zuo Qinghui unintentionally glanced at a nearby guard, he saw a meaningful smirk on their faces.

In the next instant, a barely audible "click" sound suddenly resounded. The bald strongman abruptly opened his eyes, a flash of joy crossing his face, then quickly reached out, attempting to release the binds for those around him as well.

But at that moment, two golden lights suddenly flashed, landing directly on the bald strongman and turning into two golden ropes that bound his limbs.

Following this, a guard dressed in Guiyuan Sect disciple attire approached with a sinister smile.

He formed a sword finger with his right hand and flicked towards the strongman. From behind him, a Dagger-shaped Magic Artifact flew into the crowd, circling multiple times around the bald strongman, leaving him with dozens of bloody wounds.

With a muffled grunt, blood gushed from his wounds, and in an instant, he was transformed into a bloody figure, causing everyone around to shudder inwardly.

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